February is national pancake month and luckily there are a few more days to celebrate it! The folks at Krusteaz* sent me some of their yummy baking mixes to try out a while back, including a buttermilk pancake mix. I went to Krusteaz’s website and found this recipe for yummy chocolate chip cookie pancakes that I thought Gabe and Lexi would like. I also saw an easy recipe for buttermilk biscuits (click here for the recipe) and gave it a try as well. Both were quite good, and I would certainly make them again, especially the pancakes since they are Gabe and Lexi approved! And it’s nice to be able to use the pancake mix for biscuits, scones, crepes, etc. (again, see Krusteaz’s website for recipes.)

In addition to the recipe for the pancakes, Iam also giving away five coupons for free Krusteaz mixes to one of my lucky readers —rules to enter the contest are at the end of this post.

Ingredients (makes 14-16 pancakes)

2 cups Krusteaz buttermilk pancake mix

¼ cup light brown sugar, packed

½ cup mini chocolate chips (plus more for garnish)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups milk (I used 2%)

1 large egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Vegetable oil for the pan/griddle

Whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

Mix the pancake mix, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl, mix the milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients into the pancake mix and stir until blended.

Lightly grease a griddle or frying pan with the oil and heat (use a medium setting). Pour 2 tablespoons of patter in the pan and cook 1 ½ minutes per side, turning only once. Since Gabe and Lexi like bigger pancakes, I used 1/3 cup batter for each pancake, which reduces the total number of pancakes to about eight or nine.

Garnish with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips.

OK, now for the giveaway. Simply “like” this post or Kel’s Café on Facebook, and you will automatically be entered to win 5 coupons for free Krusteaz products, such as the delicious crumb cake and the awesome pumpkin spice bars I blogged about earlier this year. But hurry, contest ends on 3/4/14.